[nass]

imack,Aug 9 2006, 10:36 AM Wrote:With free trade, there is no duty for items shipped from the U.S. to Canada (or vice-versa).  The only customs charge for bringing something across the border is GST.  The theory being that if you buy the item in the U.S. and then bring it into Canada, you end up paying the same, since you would pay GST if you bought it here.

What UPS charges so much money for is brokerage.  When you bring something across the border yourself, your the broker.  Filling out a few forms (probably automated in their case) is all they do for the outrageous fee they charge.
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there is duty on an item that is not made in North America. If you bought it in the states but the country of origin is like Japan then you pay duty on it no matter what. What I do when shipping things over to avoid extra costs is:

1. Ask seller to low ball the value of the item, keep in mind this is relative. You can't say a massive box that's heavy is only worth $35

2. Use another carrier like Fedex that doesn't charge $40 to fill out 1 paper.

3. Find a friend on the states side and ship the item to him/her and pick it up yourself. On your way across the boarder make sure to stop at the duty free :)